Mineral Rights, Natural Gas & Oil News

The state's unemployment rate hovers around 3 percent, and "Help Wanted" signs litter the landscape of cities such as Williston in the same way "For Sale" signs populate the streets of Las Vegas. "It's a zoo," said Terry Ayers, who drove into town from Spokane, Wash., slept in his truck, and found a job within hours of arrival, tripling his salary. "It's crazy what's going on out here." MORE: Jobs for millennials STORY: 10 high-paying government jobs MORE: Most hated jobs The reason?

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2011/11/18/natural-gas-rigs-sink-to-five-month-low/The U.S. natural-gas rig count slipped for the third week to the lowest level in five months after energy producers made fewer plays in Oklahoma, according to data compiled by Baker Hughes Inc. Natural-gas rigs fell by 6 to 871, the lowest count since June 17, Baker Hughes said.

BISMARCK, N.D. — Emergency medical crews in North Dakota’s Oil Patch describe the challenges they face as “crazy” or “overwhelming” and “like a war zone.” Those descriptions, from reports compiled by state emergency medical services officials, document an exploding demand for services triggered by the influx of people and activity from the oil boom. Eleven emergency medical services agencies in North Dakota’s six greatest oil-producing counties have reported a 61 percent increase in calls over t...

When Ray Kroll took the economic development job in Karnes County a few years ago, the property value of the entire county was around $500 million. Now, thanks to the Eagle Ford shale play, the property tax rolls have jumped to $1.3 billion. “To think that you would use the b-word in conjunction with Karnes County is just crazy,” Kroll said.

Jay Leno might be best known for his Tonight Show, but he’s also a hot rod, car collector junky. Recently, Leno featured a natural-gas fueled hot rod on his show “Jay Leno’s Garage” that can drive more than 600 miles on a single tank of natural gas. “It is amazing to me that we are into this lithium-ion battery thing, and we have something like 600 years of natural gas right here in the United States,” Leno told the car’s designer J.T.

BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), Australia’s biggest oil and gas producer, expects output from its U.S. shale assets to quadruple by 2020, driven by the $12.1 billion purchase of Petrohawk Energy Corp.

HELENA, Mont. — Speculation that the oil-rich Bakken shale formation may extend as far west as the Rocky Mountain Front is sparking increased leasing of land along the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains and in north-central Montana. “This area has a lot of similar characteristics to the Bakken in eastern Montana — it’s like a baby brother,” Primary Petroleum president Mike Marrandino told the Independent Record for a story published Sunday.